


Holding Onto You, Waiting for the Fall

by alewifejesse



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Except Malivore is human not mud, F/F, Hope Hates Landon, Hope Mikaelson was in a band, Hope plays guitar, Hope’s Parents are alive, Hosie, Landon Kirby Has A Different Last Name, Landon Kirby Is An Asshole, Meet-Cute, Mentioned Klaus Mikaelson, Mentioned Landon Kirby, Mentioned Ryan Clarke, Mentions of Taylor Swift, No Smut, She also sings Taylor Swift, Song: seven (Taylor Swift), They Also Have Cute Dogs, mentioned malivore, they just make out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 11:55:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29966013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alewifejesse/pseuds/alewifejesse
Summary: Hope’s baby German Shepard misbehaves (as usual) but this time it works in her favor.The title is from Part of Me by Gold Brother btw :).
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson & Josie Saltzman, Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 9
Kudos: 111





	Holding Onto You, Waiting for the Fall

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first one shot and I haven’t really written or published any story in years so I’m rusty but I just thought a dog walking meet-cute would be funny/adorable and couldn’t resist writing it. It all might sound pretty mediocre and probably has a lot of mistakes, but I hope you like it anyway!

“No stunts today, Percival. Yesterday, I was late to dinner because you decided to eat that kid’s hot dog.”

The little german shepard makes a noise with his snout, shaking his head as if to rid it of something. Hope laughs, scratching her baby behind his ears and then opening the door to her building to go across the street. He follows excitedly, barking as he attempts to get her to walk faster. Hope obliges, happily following him down the sidewalk.

This is Percival’s favorite park and he always goes crazy with anticipation when they come here. Hope loves her puppy like a son so of course she can’t help but take him here every day just to see him jump around. It’s not like it’s too difficult anyway since it's only across the street.

As they walk, the pup jumps around, barking sometimes as butterflies and birds fly around, giving him the urge to chase them. Meanwhile, Hope puts music on in her earbuds, leaving one out so she can hear the outside world and one in so she can hear “Where Is My Mind?” by Pixies.

It’s going as usual. Hope walks—sometimes even jogs to catch up—with Percival while he trots around, exploring and enjoying the open space. It’s a good time to think, is something she’s learned. And being Hope Mikaelson, she has a lot of things she has to think through. Like her disturbance of an ex. Or how she’s going to answer the next time her parens inevitably ask if she’s seeing anyone and she has to avoid telling them that the last guy she went on a date with nearly killed a waiter for not getting the order of chicken alfredo _exactly_ how he wanted it.

And she can’t even say that’s the worst date she’s been on in the last month.

At some point, the two stop so that Hope can untangle Percival’s leash from a bush while he thrashes around in it, trying to eat the colorful flowers.

“Hold still, buddy,” Hope mutters to him, attempting to trace where it’s going through. She’s honestly debating just leaving it here. Today has not been her day. Well, this _week_ hasn’t really been good at all.

Just as she manages to dodge a few thorns, her phone vibrates with a call and she frustratedly decides to answer it without looking at the caller ID.

“Hello?”

And then more annoyance washes over her as soon as the voice on the other line sounds. _“You’ve been ignoring me—and for what? A small fight?”_

The Mikaelson almost snorts at the words of her ex-boyfriend. “We broke up, Landon. I don’t think that counts as a small fight—Percy, stop moving please.”

_“No we didn’t, everything’s fine. Come on, we can—”_

“Landon, I swear to God if you don’t leave me alone, I’ll get a restraining order. It has been _two months_ —get over it or I’m calling your dad and telling him that you keep begging for me back. And we both know what he’ll think then.”

After a moment of silence and a huff, he finally replies, _“Screw you, Hope. I always treated you right and you were always a bitch about it.”_

Hope rolls her eyes, already over trying to spare his feelings. She already did enough of that when they were together, she’ll be damned if it continues well past their crappy relationship. “I’m still a bitch about it, now—fuck!” Hope curses when Percival manages to get himself out of the bush on his own and dart off. “Dammit, bye Landon!”

_“Hope, you—”_

Hope hangs up and stuffs her phone and earbuds in her jacket pocket whilst beginning to chase after her dog who is apparently fucking _Flash_ of the canine community.

“Percy!”

“Rrrrhuf! Rrhuf!” The dog parks playfully, continuing to run like they’re playing a game.

Then, he catches sight of another dog and starts to head straight towards it, still barking, only now it’s not directed at his owner. Hope picks up speed and begins to catch up to him, having long forgotten about Landon despite her phone buzzing against her stomach repeatedly.

Finally, Percival slows down, coming to a stop almost immediately. Hope, on the other hand, is far too late and finds herself ramming straight into someone before she knows it.

The person yelps as they both fall to the ground and Hope’s eyes snap up to see Percival playing with a small, curly-haired dog, not even paying any mind to her.

She lets out a groan and looks down at the dark-haired woman below her. When blue eyes meet brown, the Mikaelson realizes her seems to be going a mile a minute. And then she remembers that she basically just ran around the whole park after her dog and blames it on that. Of course that’s what it is.

“I’m so sorry,” Hope apologizes.

The brunette shakes her head, grimacing a bit as her hands rest on Hope’s waist. “It’s fine, it’s fine,” she replies, her voice strained indicating that it’s probably _not_ fine. “I’m just… ow.”

Hope sits up on her knees, trying to catch her breath while the other woman follows. Her hands drop from Hope’s waist and move to cradle her own ribs instead. “I was just trying to catch my dog and he’s–he’s—well, I’m not really—”

“Hey, really,” the woman laughs but pain is still clear on her face, “it’s fine. I get it.”

After a few moments of Hope’s eyes darting between the the brown ones in front of her, she gets up, helping her victim off the ground.

They both stay still for a few seconds, glancing at their dogs who continue to play fight.

“Um... I’m Hope—Mikaelson.”

The woman looks over at her, pulling her hand away from her ribs and reaching to take Hope’s hand in her own. Hers feels weak in the shorter woman’s firm grip and it surprises her a bit. “Josie Saltzman. And the little one?”

Hope is confused at first but eventually understands that Josie is talking about her dog. She chuckles nervously. “Oh, he—his name is Percival. Same last name.”

Josie laughs with a nod. “F’course. Mine’s name is Teddy. ‘Cause—you know, he looks kind of like a teddy bear.”

“Right.”

It awkwardly falls silent again and Hope starts whistling quietly before noticing that Josie’s hand is back on her ribs. She begins to worry that maybe she’s broken something.

“Hey, should I take you to the ER or something for your ribs?” She questions, prompting Josie to shake her head with a smile.

“No, I’m fine. Almost certain it’s just gonna bruise,” The Saltzman responds honestly. When she comes to the realization that this may be the last string of conversation they have, she feels the urge to find something else to keep Hope from leaving. “But if you want to make it better, you could get me something to ice it with.”

Hope nods almost vigorously and reaches over for Percival’s leash, not bothering with Teddy’s leash because he isn’t wearing one. She wonders what it's like to have a well-behaved pet. Hers is always getting her into some kind of trouble. “My apartment is pretty close by so I can take you there and get you some ice,” she says.

“Okay, sure.”

-  
“Sorry that it’s sort of a mess, it’s laundry day and I was separating colors before I took Percy for a walk,” Hope calls behind her as she lets Percival run free and rushes to the kitchen.

Josie simply looks around, taking in everything that is Hope but in the form of a home.

The girl has dark walls and most of her wooden furniture is rustic, dark walnut with jade accents everywhere. It seems very mature, though not overly formal. Hope—while she doesn’t seem like the type—collects records, if the shelves of them are any indication. She also clearly loves books as there are also many hardbacks tucked tightly into the parts of the shelves that aren't covered by vinyls.

“You can make yourself comfortable.”

Josie takes a deep breath and then carefully sits on the dark couch by the door.

Soon, Hope comes out with a bag of ice and drops down next to her, reaching forward to carefully press it against Josie’s ribs. The Saltzman doesn’t question it and allows her to hold it there.

Hope clears her throat and casts her eyes down to the ice and then back up at Josie’s eyes. “Again, I’m really sorry for falling on you. You’re probably in a lot of pain.”

Josie smiles softly, a short and nearly inaudible laugh leaving through her nose. “It actually isn’t as bad as it was before. I’m sure I’ll be fixed in no time.”

They both aren’t sure what to say next and the only noises are coming from Teddy and Percival who are chasing each other throughout the house—actually Percival is chasing Teddy while the golden little cavoodle is just running for dear life, even though Percy means no harm.

Josie decides to speak again but before she’s able to, Hope’s ringtone breaks the silence between them.

“Sorry,” Hope apologizes again, pulling her phone from her jacket pocket to see who it is. She throws the earbuds on the table and stands up, excusing herself.

After Josie nods and takes the ice in her own hand, she stands and heads into her bedroom for at least a bit of privacy.

“What do you want?”

_“You hung up on me earlier.”_

“Yeah, my dog ran away from me, I had to go get him.”

A beat of quiet passes and then Landon hums like he’s just finally decided it’s believable. Hope rolls her eyes. “You can’t keep calling and texting me. I need you to get that through your head. It's over, Landon and that’s just… final.”

_“What if I asked you to marry me?”_

“You’re fucking insane,” Hope replies harshly. “I want you to _stop_ , dude. Every time you call, we go through this and every time we go through this, it ends the same way.”

_“Is there someone else? Who is it?”_

“There’s literally anyone else! I don’t want to be with you and I don’t know how many different ways I can say it anymore!”

_“Fine, Mikaelson. But it’s your loss. My father—”_

“Listen, _Clarke_ ,” she interrupts before he can try to pull Malivore Clarke into it, “your father loves me. He’s not going to do anything. Especially if it means getting on Klaus Mikaelson’s bad side.”

_“Screw you and screw your dad!”_

“Screw you, too!”

For a minute after the call is ended, she stays put, trying to calm herself. That man really has this special way of pushing her buttons and the more time passes, the more she wonders why it ever seemed like a good idea to be with him.

Her hand slips the phone back into her pocket prior to Hope taking a deep breath and running it through her hair.

Not long after Hope has regained her composure, she’s walking back into the living room and Josie’s head snaps up to meet her gaze. “Hey,” she greets.

Hope just sends her a half smile, sitting back down. “Sorry about that.”

“You apologize a lot.”

“Oh, sorry. Damn.”

Josie giggles softly, placing a hand on Hope’s wrist to ground her. “You’re fine,” she assures. “Are you okay though? You sounded exasperated there.”

“You heard that?” Josie nods. “It was just my stupid ex. We’ve all got one right?” The Mikaelson questions rhetorically. “Anyway, how’re your ribs?”

“Just a little sore. I think they’ll be okay but thank you for the ice.”

“Yeah, of course. I mean, I did put you here in the first place, it’s only right I help.”

They meet eyes again and neither of them know exactly what to say to each other at this point. Do they just part ways now?

Hope doesn’t want to go more in depth about Landon—that’s the last thing she wants to do. She doesn’t know Josie well. Plus, she wouldn’t even talk about her feelings towards Landon to someone close to her in general. But she also doesn’t know what else to talk about—this wasn’t really in her schedule today.

“Well, I guess I should get going,” Josie’s voice slices through the silence.

She and Hope begin to stand at the same time but Josie, being unlucky today, hits her shin on the coffee table.

“Ow!”

“Jesus, are you okay?” Hope questions, helping her back down. Josie chuckles, shaking her head in amusement while the Mikaelson gently holds her leg. “It’s just not your day, is it?” Hope asks playfully.

“I guess not,” the brunette answers. “But it could be worse. I could be where there isn’t an attractive girl helping me.”

Hope’s eyes snap up. “Attractive?”

Without a response, Josie glances over at the records. “Do you love music?” She questions.

“Yeah. I actually—I had a band in high school.”

The other woman’s eyes seem to light up and she beams at Hope. “Wow, what was it called?”

Hope blushes a little. She doesn’t even know why she said that, she’s never really talked about the band since they broke up. Not with Landon or even Ryan, Landon’s brother who was actually _in the band_ and is still friends with Hope.

It was just a dumb time in her life where she thought they could make it in music together. But they all had to grow up.

“The Time Travellers.”

“That’s so cool. What did you play?”

Hope plays with a button on her black jean jacket. “Um, lead guitar and vocals.”

“Do you still play?”

“Well, yeah, a little, I guess. Just so I don’t get too rusty. I could get you some more ice for your leg if you...”

Hope trails off when she notices Josie watching her attentively as if she’s studying her.

“Hi,” Hope says awkwardly.

“Hi,” Josie replies as she leans a bit closer. Or maybe it’s Hope’s imagination. But it really does seem like they’re getting closer to each other.

Whatever it is, she lets it happen.

Josie is pretty. And nice, from what she’s gathered. Plus, whatever happens doesn’t have to mean anything. Hope’s had _plenty_ of flings.

Okay, maybe that’s a lie, she hasn’t even kissed anyone since she and Landon broke up, but still. She can kiss a stranger and be fine with it. She thinks.

Eventually, their noses are touching and Hope’s decided that Josie is definitely leaning in, as if it isn’t obvious. But then her phone gets a message, dinging to alarm her of it. Josie turns her head to look at it for a moment then her eyes are back on Hope. “You gonna get that?”

Hope shakes her head. “No,” she answers, reaching to turn the ringer off. “Probably just my ex again, meaning I couldn’t care less—can I…” Hope pauses, glancing down before shaking her head. She can’t do this. Hope doesn’t know the first thing about kissing a total stranger. Are there rules or guidelines for that? “You want something to drink?”

She stands abruptly, heading back to the kitchen, almost tripping on a pile of jeans on the way. It prompts Josie to laugh and Hope blushes hard.   
  


What is possessing her to act so dumb, she doesn’t know but definitely wishes it would stop.

“I’m fine, thank you. I really should go. You have laundry to do.”

The brunette stands up, avoiding the coffee table now and successfully leaving the living room. She whistles and calls for Teddy while Hope comes back from the kitchen, less pink and more collected than before.

But the cavoodle doesn’t come so they both head to the second bedroom only to find their dogs napping, Teddy with his paws on top of Percival’s side.

“Maybe you should stay, just until they wake up? Unless you have somewhere to be,” Hope suggests, voice cracking slightly. She looks at Josie hopefully, silently wishing for her to ignore it and agree.

“I can stay. My schedule is pretty clear today.”

Josie knows she’s lying. She’s supposed to be going out with her friend, Jade, but she figures maybe Hope can keep her occupied. If she wants to, that is.

She’s very awkward, Josie’s noticed.

“Cool.”

Soon, the two women are back on the couch and Josie decides that they should continue discussing music. Hope’s high school band, to be specific.

And while she’d rather do _anything_ _else_ , Hope allows it.

The Saltzman asks multiple questions like whether they had cool nicknames to which Hope replies that they didn’t. Then she asks if there was band tension and Hope tells her about the one time she kissed the drummer, making Landon super jealous because he had been crushing on her for months, which all led to the period of time where Ryan stopped playing with them to give his brother a break from seeing her.

Josie comments on how irritating Landon seems and Hope simply agrees and moves on.

Then Josie asks something Hope doesn’t expect:

“Will you play me a song?”

Hope clears her throat nervously, blinking a few times before she finally comes to her senses. “Oh, I don’t know. I’m not very good—I mean, it’s—”

“Don’t lie,” Josie teases, nudging Hope like they’ve been friends forever. “I’m sure you’re amazing.”

Hope gets a good look at the way Josie stares at her. Her eyes are hopeful and expectant and pretty. And there’s a part of Hope’s brain that tells her to do it because _girls like musicians_. But there’s also another part of her brain that’s saying to _accidentally_ wake up the dogs so Josie’ll have to go.

But she convinces herself that she doesn’t wanna be mean to them and sighs heavily, wiping her palms on her thighs. “Okay, yeah.”

Josie jumps slightly, happy at the fact that Hope has said yes while the latter stands and walks into her room.

She allows herself to freak out for a minute but grabs her acoustic guitar from it’s place in the corner, walking back out after to reoccupy her spot next to Josie.

After tuning it and testing it, she inhales sharply, exhales heavily and makes sure to look away.

“Any requests?” She questions just to stall.

Josie thinks for only a few seconds before shrugging. “Know any Taylor Swift?”

Hope scoffs playfully as if the question is unbelievable. Of course she knows some Taylor Swift. She’s only one of the best songwriters of our time. “From which album?”

Relaxing some, Josie replies with the first thing that comes to mind, “Folklore.”

“Is that your favorite one?”

The brunette shakes her head, clarifying that it’s actually _Fearless_ and Hope has to fight back a smile at that response. Of course her favorite is _Fearless_. She has that vibe. Or a _Red_ vibe.

The auburn-haired woman takes the capo off the top and slides it onto a specific fret. Afterwards, she clears her throat and proceeds to strum.

_“Please, picture me in the trees_   
_I hit my peak at seven_   
_Feet in the swing over the creek_   
_I was too scared to jump in_   
_But I, I was high, in the sky with_   
_Pennsylvania under me_   
_Are there still beautiful things?”_

Hope’s eyes don’t look anywhere else but the guitar under the façade of her being focused on the chords as she sings the chorus. She’s not at all focusing on getting them right—her muscle memory can do that for her—but she doesn’t want to see Josie face as she judges whether Hope is good or not.

She doesn’t even enjoy playing in front of people. The only people she does play in front of are Ryan and her father. And they kind of have to say she’s good so she doesn’t believe them too much when they (honestly) tell her that she’s great at singing.

_“And I’ve been meaning to tell you_   
_I think your house is haunted_   
_Your dad is always mad and that must be why_   
_I think you should come live with me_   
_And we can be pirates_   
_Then you won't have to cry_   
_Or hide in the closet_   
_And just like a folk song_   
_Our love will be passed on”_

She finally manages to build up the courage to look up, relieved to see Josie watching with her lips turned up into a small smile, her chin resting on the palm of her hand. Upon seeing Hope look up, the smile gets wider and Hope can’t fight her face flushing.

Then, due to the distraction of heat and Josie’s gaze, she messes up the G chord and stops suddenly. Josie lets out a small laugh at Hope’s embarrassed blush and the latter shrugs.

“I guess I have been getting rusty,” she excuses, looking up at the dark-haired woman nervously.

“That was good. I love your voice, Hope.”

_I am pathetic_ , Hope thinks upon noticing how much she likes her name rolling off of Josie’s tongue. She must be really desperate to find some form of romance if she swoons over a random girl she accidentally injured in the park.

“Thank you, Josie.”

Their eyes meet for what seems like the thousandth time today and Josie’s flit between the blue oceans in front of her and the lips that look soft and pink and inviting. “You’re welcome.”

Before she can think about it, she’s surging forward, attaching their lips over the guitar. It takes Hope a moment to register what’s happening but when she does, she’s gently kissing back.

By now, her worries about desperation are long forgotten and she couldn’t care less about the fact that they hardly know each other. Josie’s lips are perfect and she tastes like lemonade, of course she’s not gonna worry about anything else.

After a moment, she eventually pulls away, whispering as if they need to keep quiet. “Wait, wait, wait.”

Josie breathes heavily and automatically thinks the worst. Maybe Hope doesn’t like girls. Maybe Hope doesn’t like _her_. To be fair, it’s not like they can really like each other that much—they don’t know enough about one another.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”

“No, no, I was just gonna move the guitar,” Hope is quick to clarify, reaching over to set the guitar down.

“Oh. Right,” Josie replies dumbly.

Her heart jumps when Hope leans back in and kisses her again, more intensely this time. Hope grips her waist, scratching Josie lightly over her shirt and deepens their kisses gradually.

At some point, she pushes Josie so that she’s lying on her back and brings her hand to the back of her knees to wrap them around her own waist.

The Mikaelson’s lips move to Josie’s jaw then kiss down her neck slowly, prompting the other girl to hum out a moan.

“Do you wanna...?” Hope asks, pulling back to observe Josie carefully.

The woman nods and pulls Hope against her more with her legs to feel some sort of pressure. “Definitely,” she pants out.

-

“I’m so glad you fell on me today,” Josie mutters into the crook of Hope’s neck.

“Me, too,” Hope agrees, her eyes fluttering open after a moment. “Are your ribs okay?”

Josie smiles and scoots away to sit up against the headboard of the bed. Hope misses the warmth and flinches before sitting up, too, bringing the blanket up to her chest.

“I think I’ll survive.”

They both fall into a comfortable silence.

This is absolutely not what Hope was expecting when she was putting a leash on Percival. She expected trouble but not the good kind that ends in something like this.

At least she has a reason to thank him for once.

She lets out a laugh at the whole thing.

“What?” Josie questions.

“I’ve never done this before, I’m just really confused and laughing at the whole thing,” she answers honestly.

“Done what?” Josie asks with a chuckle of her own. “Sleep with a random person?”

Hope nods.

Josie leans in closer and lowers her voice to a whisper. “Well, neither have I,” she shares as if it’s a secret. “You were pretty great though. Not shy at all.” She winks and Hope’s heart skips a beat.

The blue-eyed woman bites her lip and releases a deep exhale, trying to keep herself from seeming nervous and dorky. “Right. So what now?”

Barking echoes off the walls then, and Percival runs in, jumping on Hope’s bed.

Josie makes kissy noises and he trots onto her lap, completely ignoring the person who feeds him and bathes him and literally keeps him alive. She scratches behind his ears happily and Hope wonders how she goes from sexy to adorable in such a quick manner.

“Well, now, I _really_ should go,” Josie replies in a baby voice as if she’s not talking to Hope. Then she turns her head to gaze at her, still scratching behind Percy’s head. “But if it’s okay, I’ll give you my number and we can… like, talk if you want?” She suggests in a regular voice now.

Hope raises her eyebrows surprisedly, nodding. She’s attempting to be nonchalant about it but Josie can tell she likes that idea a lot. “Yeah, of course.”

Then, Teddy walks into the doorway, sitting down and watching quietly. He’s a pretty calm dog, unlike Percival, and Hope figures she’ll ask Josie if she trained him herself or where she got him trained if not.

After exchanging numbers, both of them get out of bed and get dressed, heading to the door to say their farewells to each other.

“Well, I’ll see you then?”

Josie leans in, kissing Hope’s cheek, humming quietly in agreement. “I’ll see you.”

With that, Josie pets Percival one more time and lifts Teddy up before leaving.

Hope shuts the door and stares down at her puppy, who is now the one to sit and tilt his head as if he’s confused.

“Well, that was a lot better than arguing with that mom yesterday, huh?” The woman asks him.

He makes a little noise and then runs off, not really caring at all about his owner speaking to him, as usual. Hope just rolls her eyes in amusement and gets back to doing her laundry.

“What a day,” she mumbles to herself while lifting the pile of jeans she tripped on earlier.


End file.
